DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Cupressus arizonica | Arizona Cypress 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Arizona cypress has a restricted range in the southwestern United
States.  The typical variety is local in mountain canyons from
Trans-Pecos Texas (Chisos Mountains) to southwestern New Mexico and
southeastern Arizona.  Arizona cypress is best developed in Mexico, from
northeastern Sonora south to Durango and east to Coahuila, Zacatecas,
and Tamaulipas [31,33].  It is cultivated in Hawaii [72].  Smooth
cypress is local in the mountains of central Arizona [31,32].  It is
also cultivated in Hawaii [72].  Piute cypress is rare and local in the
Piute Mountains in the vicinity of Kern and Tulare counties, California.
Cuyamaca cypress is rare and local in the Cuyamaca Mountains of San
Diego County, California, and is also local in the Sierra Juarez, Baja
California Norte, Mexico.  San Pedro Martir cypress is local in the
Sierra San Pedro Martir, Baja California Norte, Mexico [31,33].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper


STATES : 
     AZ  CA  HI  NM  TX  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BIBE  CHIR  GRCA  SAGU  ZION


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    7  Lower Basin and Range
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K019  Arizona pine forest 
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K031  Oak - juniper woodlands
   K033  Chaparral


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   240  Arizona cypress
   241  Western live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Arizona cypress is a common but scattered component of canyon riparian
associations [7,14].  These interior, mixed-broadleaf communities
comprise a variety of typical riparian species that include Arizona
sycamore (Platanus wrightii), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica),
cottonwoods (Populus fremontii, P. angustifolia), box elder (Acer
negundo), Arizona alder (Alnus oblongifolia), bigtooth maple (Acer
grandidentatum), and Arizona walnut (Juglans major) [7,55,67].

Carmichael and others [70] have described an Arizona cypress-shrub live
oak (Quercus turbinella) association.  Arizona cypress is also a
frequent codominant with alligator juniper (Juniperus deppeana), pinyons
(Pinus cembroides and P. edulis), and a number of oaks including
silverleaf oak (Q. hypoleucoides), netleaf oak (Q. reticulata), and
Arizona white oak (Q. arizonica) [46].  In Cochise County, Arizona,
Arizona cypress is co- or subdominant in oak woodlands that include
Emory oak (Quercus emoryi), Mexican blue oak (Q. oblongifolia), Toumey
oak (Q. toumeyi), oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma), and Arizona
madrone (Arbutus arizonica), in addition to the aforementioned oaks and
junipers [10].  Arizona cypress is progressively more restricted to
riparian habitats at lower elevations where the woodland zone grades
into the shrub-dominated desert and semidesert vegetation types [46].

Arizona cypress is also found in stands at higher elevations, mixed with
other conifers including Arizona pine (Pinus ponderosa var. arizonica),
Apache pine (P. engelmannii), Chihuahua pine (P. leiophylla var.
chihuahuana), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) [46].

In pure stands, Arizona cypress often forms closed canopies that
preclude the occurrence of understory species over considerable portions
of the stand [7,14].  Shrub associates along canyon bottoms and lower
slopes include skunkbush sumac (Rhus trilobata), mountain-mahogany
(Cercocarpus spp.), New Mexico locust (Robinia neomexicana), cliff
fendlerbush (Fendlera rupicola), indigobush (Dalea formosa),
mountainbalm (Eriodictyon angustifolium), and buckthorn (Rhamnus spp.).
On drier sites, understory species include sugar sumac (Rhus ovata),
desert ceanothus (Ceanothus greggii), pringle manzanita (Arctostaphylos
pringlei), and pointleaf manzanita (A. pungens) [7,14].

Publications listing Arizona cypress or its varieties as dominant or
codominant include the following:

A digitized computer-compatible classification for natural and potential
   vegetation in the Southwest with particular reference to Arizona [6]
Plants of the Arizona chaparral [25]
Preliminary classification for the coniferous forest and woodland series
   of Arizona and New Mexico [29]
Biotic communities in the Sub-Mogollon region of the inland Southwest [36]
Forest and woodland vegetation monitoring, Chisos Mountains, Big Bend
   National Park: baseline 1978 [38]
A series vegetation classification for Region 3 [40]
Vegetation of the Santa Catalina Mountains: community types and dynamics[44]
Riparian forest and community types of Arizona and New Mexico [54]
Vegetation of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona: a gradient analysis
   of the south slope [67]

Related categories for Species: Cupressus arizonica | Arizona Cypress